


Ready to be Read

by altehst (orphan_account)



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, episode tage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-12-28 19:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21142109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/altehst
Summary: A place for episode tags, AUs, etc. as I make my way through the Mentalist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will post chapter warnings as appropriate. Most chapters will have mentions of canonical character death. I am watching the Mentalist, am currently on season 2, and will be placing anything here that is too short to be its own story as I watch the series and am inspired. I know I'm way behind the rest of the fandom, but if you're reading this, please leave a review to let me know if you liked it!
> 
> This first chapter is set in season one, somewhere around midway through.

Patrick Jane loves children. It's obvious in the way his eyes light up when he sees them, the way his demeanor changes from a fake, easy-going smile- one that is well practiced, of course, but obvious to those who know him- to a genuine grin. The way he's immediately comfortable with them, and knows the best ways to communicate with them. 

Teresa watches as he converses with a little girl with wild blonde curls, somewhere around six or seven, her hands flying as she talks a mile a minute. He nods solemnly as he listens to her story, then points down the street towards a woman with the same wild blonde curls. She's walking frantically towards the pair, and she sweeps her daughter into her arms and thanks Jane profusely. 

Jane watches them go, and Lisbon observes the way his shoulders slump as he waves one more time to the little girl as she peeks over her shoulder. Slowly, he turns towards Lisbon, and she gives him a sympathetic smile. 

He looks up at her, and the mask slides back into place. 

Lisbon wonders, sometimes, what it would be like to be in his place. Imagines her family gone. Imagines blaming the actions of a madman on herself and shouldering the burden of the death of a spouse and child. 

Every time she can't help but cry. 

She wonders, too, what will keep Patrick Jane alive once his thirst for justice, for vengeance has been sated. How he will continue to live if his goal has been satisfied and his wife and child are still dead. 

And if they never catch Red John? What will happen then? Will Jane work himself into the grave, driven by an obsession with the man? 

She knows, somewhere in the back of her mind, in a dark corner where she keeps the thoughts that she does not want to consider, that if they do not catch Red John, Patrick Jane will decay until he is someone else, a version of himself where nothing matters but the single-minded pursuit of Red John to the point of death. 

Lisbon finds that unacceptable. She knows that if he ever starts to go down that path, she will make sure Patrick Jane stays Patrick Jane.

Jane turns and glances back at her, quirks an eyebrow as if to ask if she's coming. Lisbon starts walking towards the man, her resolve hardened, as it is every time Patrick Jane talks to a child that is not and never will be a replacement for his own.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He keeps expecting to turn the corner and see another gruesome scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during 2x12 when the camera crew won't leave Jane alone.
> 
> Last line taken directly from the show.

The camera crew has him on edge. They're everywhere, it seems, and they keep shoving that _infernal_ camera in his face in the hopes of getting a sound byte or two, footage of the great Patrick Jane fallen from what he once was. 

(Never mind that that's not actually what they're after, that this isn't even really about him and even if it was what he is now is better, is something worthwhile, is something she would've been proud of-)

So he walks through the building on edge, He keeps expecting to turn the corner and see another gruesome scene, another bloody face grinning hellishly at him as the body of someone he cares about lies prone on the floor. 

Another taunt from Red John, another point to prove that Jane's one step behind, another death to show that Jane's an arrogant man without any real talents, another life on Jane's shoulders to prove to Red John that he's smarter than Jane, better than him. 

The fear chases him every day- and now it feels all too real, now that he's back on camera, just like before. 

It's stupid, it's silly, it's unreasonable to think that things will turn out the same as they did before- 

But he can't chase Bosco from his mind, can't chase the image of his wife and child lying on the floor. 

So Lisbon asks him why he can't cooperate, and his voice shakes just a bit as he says the only thing that makes sense to him, forces the words out. "Last time I was in front of a camera, things didn't turn out so well."


End file.
